A Feb. 28 tactic from the PKK

Bülent Korucu

These days, the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) media is using a tactic to strike a blow at Fethullah Gülen that resembles one once used by the Feb. 28 supporters.

The Feb. 28 media, using a sort of cut-and-paste method with various sermons and discussions that have taken place, created lots of material for a lynching campaign. We could offer up lots of examples, but the most striking of them was this: While Gülen once actually said, “You cannot tell the CHP [main opposition Republican People’s Party] supporters to go to hell,” his words were manipulated to look like he said, “Let the CHP supporters go to hell.”

The real version of this line from the list of allegations was extracted from cassettes, recordings and the 10-year trial period that started off with cries of “Execution, to the execution” and wound up with a double appeal judgment of acquittal. Even more important than all this was that they were never able to convict Gülen in the eyes of the public. Actually, the exculpation Gülen enjoyed in the hearts of the nation transformed his status in the courtroom to one of acquittal. Had they only been able to convince the nation, punishing Gülen would have been very easy.

These days, we see the same tactics being used by the PKK media. As a bad copy of the deep state, the PKK/Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) sees all roads leading towards its goals as permissible, and has once again been caught red-handed. The talk Gülen gave on Oct. 24 about “terror and lament” was of a nature to throw quite a few people off their tracks. For example, some of his comments were: “Why has there been no opportunity to learn Kurdish in schools? In our schools abroad, in fact even in America, Turkish is studied as an elective, and no one tries to impede this. This is one of the special features of being a great state.”

At another point in his talk, Gülen said: “At one time in the past, it was thought that these things could be imposed from on high, as though they were coming down like a large hammer. But the truth is, each hammer blow only whipped up hatred and enmity. This hatred and enmity was inherited by each passing generation, and became so large that it threatened to swallow the nation. The problem needs to be eliminated not by yelling and screaming, burning and killing, but rather with bravery, intelligence and clemency.” The great teacher called on security precautions to be taken on the terror front in order that “the terror be localized and the society be prevented from being put under pressure.”

A collation of works published in this week’s Aksiyon magazine shows that Gülen has been saying similar things on this subject since the start of the ‘90s, but we all know that words are never enough in these sorts of situations. And so civil society also tried to do everything it could. Schools opened in the region aim to alleviate the differences in opportunities regional citizens are afforded. There are “dershanes” (study halls) that support hundreds of reading rooms in the region, also aiming to alleviate problems in education in the area, all despite the threats of being vandalized or set on fire.

And all this assistance was not limited to within Turkey’s borders either. Even while Saddam Hussein persisted in his cruel tyranny and bloody internal clashes were going on in Iraq, education volunteers headed for northern Iraq. There are more examples to show that what Gülen said about Kurdish language education was not aimed simply at winning hearts. There is the “Dünya” television channel, formed on his advice, which broadcasts in Kurdish, offers language courses and even popular cartoons such as “Caillou,” to help children learn language more easily.

The misrepresentation of Gülen’s words by the KCK/PKK media does not stem from some deficiency in Turkish. Perhaps it really stems from a lack of mercy and intelligence. If they truly believe that his words contained anti-Kurdishness, and they are sincere in this belief, then let them broadcast the entire talk. If they are not just some dark propaganda machine for the Internet and television, but rather a real media agency, let them broadcast this talk in its entirety. I doubt that they could ever do this because, after all, their masters, the Feb. 28 supporters, were never able to either, which is why their final acts will be similar to the final acts of the Feb. 28 supporters.

The people of the nation know Gülen, who has spoken for years from the lectern at mosques, and they know those on the other side, too. If the shadows of the weapons cast over these people were only to be lifted, we would see whose side they would stand on.

Published on Today's Zaman, 15 November 2011, Tuesday

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Fethullah Gülen: PKK employing tactics similar to those of Feb. 28